Years
by Aki Vos
Summary: KushinaXMinato going from when they met to his death.
1. Chapter 1

The tongue came out of her mouth as she tried to intimidate the Sanin. Tsunade just shook her head and kept dragging the wrist of the thin thirteen year old on the worn dirt path towards Konoha. "Struggling won't help; you'll have to deal with reality. Your parents are dead and your country is gone."

"I'm fine with that! You're hurting my wrist, you old hag!" She screamed and pressed a foot on Tsunade's thigh; kicking off she freed herself from the grasp. "I'm thirteen not five; I don't need to be lead around like a goat!" She rubbed it gently and turned a deepened glare up at Tsunade and pointed a thinly finger at her. "Oh, listen you boob brained bimbo! I'm Kushina Uzumaki! I'm the last of the great Uzumaki clan of the Land of Whirlpool! You better had show me some respect because some day… Hey!"

Tsunade grabbed her wrist again and kept pulling her. "A girl who shaved her head… Who'd believe it?"

"It grew back some, see." Kushina said using her free hand to play with it. "It's almost long enough I can spike it. Anyway, I figured it was the best disguise for me, no one would believe I was a girl!"

"Not even if you told them." Tsunade muttered turning her head to see the river. "Why don't we stop for a break?"

"I don't need a break, I'm a great ninja!" Kushina said as her wrist was released. "I could use training though, come fight with me on the river, old woman! I'll bet I'll kick your ass five times over!" She said holding out all of her right phalanges.

"Alright." Tsunade said and eased her way out on the river and stretched in her ANBU uniform. She casually held up one finger and grinned. "Come on little boy, I'll show you what this boob brained bimbo's made of."

"If you think I'd come rushing at you," Kushina said in a completely different and completely confident tone, "you're just as big of a fool as those idiots invading my country."

Kushina took a stance and raised her hand. Tsunade smiled and began running at the tomboy when several wisps of water came up and began lunging at the Sanin in sharp movements. As Tsunade dodge and came close to her she began to lecture. "You're good, kid, but not good… enough?"

Her fist went through the stomach and a water close dissipated. From behind Kushina rose out of the water giggling as Tsunade stumbled on the surface of the river, "you're fun, old hag. Most people don't fall for that."

Suddenly Tsunade was behind her and about to hit her as Kushina noticed her. A hand caught Tsunade's fist and they both turned. "A little cruel Tsunade, don't cha think?"

"Jiraiya… hmm." She said and stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "Spying on me again?"

"Don't flatter yourself too much; I'm taking my new team out to train in the wilderness." Jiraiya said pointing out to three kids looking over in amazement. "What's a nice kid like this doing being beaten up by you?"

"The kid…" Tsunade said loudly, "has been insulting me ever since we left Whirlpool!"

"She nearly broke my wrist, mister." Kushina pouted pathetically and loudly. "A couple times she's thrown me into a tree and made me cry!"

"You're a bad lair kid." Jiraiya flatly pointed out.

"Actually, it's the truth. Somebody kept trying to spar with me." Tsunade said and turned and began walking away. "I'm done; you take Uzumaki on your little outing. The brat's all yours."

Tsunade hopped away into the trees and left the two and the team of Genin watching her. Jiraiya shrugged and held out his hand. "I'm Jiraiya, what's your name, boy?"

"Kushina, and I'm a girl." She said stiffly. "Can't you tell?" Jiraiya looked at the inch long hair, the hole-y old orange tee-shirt and a pair of white pants she was sporting along with a large green duffle bag. "I know, it's a good disguise huh?"

"Very good disguise, you look like a street urchin. You can't tell. Alright, come meet my team." Jiraiya said holding out a hand to direct her over. They walked over and Kushina stepped foot on the land and looked them over quickly. She noticed immediately that she was taller the all of them by two or three inches even when she was barefoot and them in shoes. "This is my team, team, this is… Um, what was your name again?"

"I'm Kushina Uzumaki of the Uzumaki clan of Whirlpool where I was about to be named a chunin." She said clenching her fist. Her mind quickly changed and a bit of hormones kicked in as she looked over at the blonde. She held out a hand to greet him with, "hi."

"Um, hi. I'm Minato Kamikaze." He said shaking her hand. He reached to let go of it but she held on and smiled. 'What's this guy up to… it's kind of creepy.' He yanked his hand back and took a couple of steps back and nervously muttered, "Nice to meet you."

A little girl with her hair in an up do held out her hand, "Hi I'm…"

Kushina quickly held up a hand in her face and stopped her from saying anything else. "I don't care who you are. You don't interest me in the least bit. Same goes for you chubby." Kushina turned her head to glare at the other boy on the team then resumed her cheery disposition. "Where are we headed to, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya shrugged in somewhat of disbelief at Kushina. "Uh, I was just going to keep walking until nightfall and we'd spend the night out there." 'Tsunade was right… Damn.'

"Oh, so were going camping." She said and turned and jumped up on a tree branch. "Let's go."

"We can't jump in trees yet." The girl said quietly.

"USELESS!" She said and hopped back down.

"How about the adult leads?" Jiraiya asked grabbing the shoulder straps of his bag. "Alright kids, let's go have some fun and bonding time! Maybe if we can find one, we can stop by a hot spring!"

Jiraiya, lost in a filthy train of though, began happily walking away. The three turned to look at Kushina as she slung her bag down and pulled out her forehead protector with a large slash through the whirlpool and tied it tightly around her head. She put the bag back up and began walking. "Come on you guys, the guy might up and start running!"

The three followed Kushina back up to Jiraiya and they kept walking until the sun set over a small, thickly wooded area around the path. The Sanin stopped and held up a kunai. "Does anyone know the kunai rule about camping?"

Jiraiya's team looked amongst themselves quickly but stopped when they heard a distance 'thud' and saw Kushina in front of Jiraiya, right arm extended. "You camp just beyond the average throw of a kunai, away from any water sources. It give you time to react to an attack and stay out of sight from an average enemy."

"You were trained well. That's right. Now… we just have to find the kunai," Jiraiya stopped and noticed the thread in her hand. "That is seems you've attached a wire to. You're really good."

"I have to be when there's a price on my head." She said and calmly began walking back into the forest. Jiraiya looked down quickly. 'You didn't tell me I was to protect the kid, Tsunade.' He nudged his head towards the forest; his team quickly moved into the shadows. Jiraiya raised a hand and several clones hopped away to set various traps and alarms.

"We need to set up assignments!" Kushina said taking charge while Jiraiya was out of sight. "We need dry firewood and to clear this place up a bit so we can sleep without stabbing ourselves on sticks. Useless chick and chubby boy, clear out the sticks, also check for any traps that enemies might have lain down in the past. Minato's with me on getting firewood."

Kushina said and grabbed Minato's hand and ran, dragging him along, far enough out of ear sigh to a down tree. She dropped his hand and began breaking off large chunks of the hollow trunk and handing them to Minato. Minato looked at the pieces and adjusted them in his arms. "Do we really need this much firewood?"

"It's thin, it won't burn for long. Haven't you ever been camping before?" She said and pulled off a huge chunk and setting in on the pile in his arms. At that point Minato collapsed over. Kushina stopped and panic a little tossing all the pieces off him. "Oh, are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah, it's just a little beyond my carrying capacity." Minato laughed and Kushina helped him to his feet. "I've got a better idea."

Within a few minutes Minato and Kushina were on opposite side of the log and set it down next to the camp site which was nearly spotless. Kushina dropped her end after Minato let go of his side and walked in to inspect it. "Wow, nice work you two. You should start a cleaning company."

"Actually we were kind of hoping to be ninjas." The girl said and suddenly got a glare in her eyes, "I'm not taking anymore instructions from him! Jiraiya-Sensai is our leader, not him! He's just another dumb refugee who's country went down the hole!"

"Noriko-chan! Please be nicer to him. He's not used to the slower pace out here in Fire country." The chubby boy said and he turned to Kushina and bowed. "Noriko-chan's not used to having competition for the leadership role, please excuse her!"

"Don't apologize for me Makoto!" She said angrily. "I think it's time I let you know, I am the leader of this group! I'm not playing girly anymore! Now, I say that you go and help Makoto get fresh water, you sickly stupid homeless bastard."

Noriko went flying into a tree and Kushina watched as she dropped in surprise. Minato pulled his fist back and rubbed it. "Noriko, when are you going to learn we all have to get along? He was complimenting you."

Kushina tried to get the word 'she' in but was cut off. "Shut up you spoiled little prodigy! Everything comes naturally to you just because you're a Namikaze! Some of us actually have to work for our aptitude!"

"Hey! Hey! What's going on here?" Jiraiya said dropping down quickly between them. "We're supposed to be bonding, alright?" Jiraiya stopped and looked around. "Good job cleaning up the camp site, and I see we have a log to burn. Good work everyone! I have good news! I brought stuff to grill!"

For the next hour they went about setting up the fire and arranging their own areas to camp in with sleeping bags and pillows, except for Kushina who pulled out a tattered old blanket from her bag and a folded up piece of clothing. Jiraiya went on about hot to properly grill the chunks of meat while his team watched. Kushina however pulled out a small picture frame with an old photo showing a tall man with bright red hair and a woman in a fancy purple kimono and her when she was far little smiling over at the camera with a large stuffed teddy bear in her arms. Kushina rubbed her wrist on it and cleared away some of the dirt and grim on the glass. She smiled at it and quickly shoved it back in her bag remembering her parents.

Jiraiya clapped his hands together, "Alright kids, why don't we go around and tell a few things about ourselves? My name's Jiraiya, I'm a Sanin and I'm a writer."

He turned his head to Noriko and she sighed. "My name's Noriko, I specialize is tactics, and I'm the best kunochi you've got."

"I'm Makoto, I like nature and having fun." The chubby boy said and turned his head to Minato.

"I'm Minato, I'm currently the village prodigy and I want to be Hokage!" Minato said confidently and gave his biggest smile.

They all stopped and stared at Kushina who was busy drawing a picture of a beach in the dirt. Jiraiya coughed and she looked up. "Oh, am I included in this?" She straightened up. "My name's Kushina…. I don't really have anything besides my name and my bag." She said petting it on the side.

"Well what's in your bag?" Makoto asked, "I bet you have lots of super cool stuff in their from your travels!"

"Some." Kushina said and began digging through and pulled out a conch shell that was at least a foot long with a jewel encrusted whirlpool on the side. "This has been in my family for generations. Before the country was founded, we used this to call for help; of course it's too dangerous to blow it out here."

"It's so pretty, can I see it?" Noriko asked and Kushina passed it along via Jiraiya. Noriko looked it over and fingered the jewels. "This must be worth a fortune!"

"A couple fortunes really. The inside's lined with pearls too." Kushina said ruffling through her bag again and pulled out a small leather bound book. "This is the original treaty that untied the Whirlpool clans." She flipped it open and pointed to a name. "That's my grandfather, he was always hasty to get things done so he signed first and declared it legal."

"Really?" Jiraiya said and took it from her. He looked through it and shoved it away in his coat. "This document's a little too important for a kid to be carrying around. I'll have the Hokage put it somewhere safely when we reach Konoha."

"Whatever." Kushina said and Noriko passed the shell along to Makoto who looked at it carefully. Kushina grabbed something she smiled about and pulled it out. She held it up for everyone to see. "This is the comb my grandmother gave me, she said she wore it at her wedding."

She flipped it back over and looked at the hand carve wood with a large painted flower on it and finger it carefully. She quickly put it back, "that's all the really interesting things I have."

Makoto passed the shell along to Minato who looked at it carefully. "What kind of a noise does it make?"

"A…conch noise…. I'm not that good at describing things." Kushina said turning to him. "When we get closer to Konoha I'm sure it'd be safe for you to blow it."

"Could we Jiraiya-sama?" Minato asked quickly. "We could use it to announce our arrival!"

"You like flashy things then, huh kid. I guess when I say we're close enough to Konoha, you can blow the conch shell. Now let's eat!" Jiraiya said picking up a stick with grilled meat on it and sniffing it happily.

"Here." Minato said offering the conch back to Kushina.

"If you want, you can hold it until you have a chance to blow it tomorrow." She said and turned to take a stick of meat and quickly began chewing piece off it. Minato shrugged and sat it next to him on the pillow.

* * *

Kushina grabbed a couple kunai and a few shuriken out of her bag and quietly stepped away without making a noise leaving everyone sleeping in the early morning light. Quietly she bounced tree trunk to tree trunk across the path they came from and into the opposing forest to stop by a small lake with a short waterfall over some large rocks. She carefully stripped and stepped down into the slightly cold water and sat up to her shoulders in the water under the falls.

"I hate traveling; I always have to be so dirty." She complained and began to scrub the dirt off her face. She stood up to her waist and pulled a leaf off a tree and began to use it to scrub her arms. "Dirt everywhere… I don't even have shoes."

She quickly sat back down and lifted one of her feet up. She groaned as they were black and began scrubbing with the rougher side of the leaf. Finishing one foot she threw the leaf in the water and grabbed another. "Damnable dirt, why can't this country have paved roads? Cement's not that freakin' expensive!"

"The countries pretty big though, it'd take years to pave everything." Said a voice from behind her. She quickly grabbed a kunai and turned around; she found herself to be glad she was still under water almost all the way. "Did I scare you?"

"A little, Minato. You shouldn't creep up on people when they're bathing, it's rude." She said and looked at him while he just stood there. "Well?"

"I just wanted to tell you that Jiraiya wants to have you back at camp immediately. He said you shouldn't go wandering off." Minato said quickly. "Come on so we can get back."

"I'm not getting out of the water with you here!" Kushina screamed. "Walk away or turned around or something!"

"You're really shy for a boy aren't you?"

Kushina's face flushed red with anger. "I'M A GIRL YOU IDIOT!" Suddenly he was hit in the face with a water ball.

"I'm sorry!" Minato yelled and turned around and crouched holding his head. "It's just you didn't look like a girl!"

"It's alright, it's my disguise, pretty good huh?" She said quickly getting out and shoving her shorts and shirt back on. She crouched down next to him and put a hand on his head. "The water ball didn't hurt you did it? I know sometimes it hits the eyes just right it'll stings."

"I'll be fine." Minato said sitting down and wiping the water off his face. "How'd you throw that?"

"I put my chakra in the water and form it into a ball and just threw it. We learn to do it at young age in Whirlpool so we can have water ball fights. I'll teach you later, alright?" Kushina said standing and offering Minato a hand up. Minato took it and Kushina pulled him up and wrapped an arm around him, "even though your really short for a boy, you're pretty cool. We're going to be good friends, huh?"

"Maybe." Minato said and they crossed the road and entered the woods on the other side. Minato pushed free and ran over to gather up his things but mainly to tell his two teammate this "Kushina's a girl."

"Oh my God; I had a crush on him." Noriko said quickly and began wiping her thoughts clean.

"This is why I don't draw conclusions about people too early." Makoto said picking his things up and swinging his bag around his shoulders. "I wonder where Jiraiya-Sensai went."

Kushina walked back in and swung her bag around her shoulders. "Alright, let's get going!"

"Our Sensai walked off." Minato said putting his bag on and picking the conch up and holding it in one hand.

"I caught breakfast!" Jiraiya said hopping down with a chipmunk in hand still alive and freaking out. Kushina quickly grabbed the creature and set it free. "But I was hungry…"

"You're a ninja; you should be able to go days without eating!" Jiraiya sulked and he led the group out to the path and they began to head back to Konoha. Every now and then they'd stop and point out an important place of direction or how the food at a rest stop was to Kushina who'd tell them that'd she'd eventually remember it all.

Jiraiya held a hand up and looked down a Minato. "We're about five minutes from the gate, you can go and give that shell a whistle."

Minato smiled and held it up to his lips and blew. It sounded like a dying cow and wasn't loud at all. "That's not a very good alarm."

"Let me try!" Noriko said grabbing it from him and ended up with worse results.

Kushina rolled her eyes and took it and blew a long, deep note over the area which caused the birds in the trees to scatter. "Amateurs!" She laughed and tossed the conch over to Minato and formed her lips. "Like this."

He took it and tried again. There was a loud high noise like a trumpet. "I did… better."

"Always like Jiraiya, being so noisy." Tsunade said walking out with the Third. "Always has to make an entrance."

"It seems the young Uzumaki is alright." The Third said walking over and offering out a hand. "I'm the Third Hokage, I'm going to get you set up in the village, alright?"

"Whatever." She said and tooked the conch from Minato. "I'll annoy you all later."


	2. Chapter 2

The two stood quietly over the small grave looking at it silently in a reserved respect that only came from knowing that the comrade they buried was a good man. The Jounin gulped and took in a sharp gasp of air. The noise got to him and his eyes began clotting with tears. Minato's face finally contorted and he began crying.

"Minato," Noriko placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know how close you and Makoto were… I'm sorry." She apologized quickly and began walking away the hand dragging behind her and slowly falling to her side as she walked over to the gate where in a black outfit the red head turned to her and asked if he was alright in a slightly defeated voice. "It's going to be a while; he blames himself for Makoto's death. I doubt Jiraiya-sama could even snap him out of it. Do your best to cheer him up Kushina, I'd like to see him smile again."

"I'll try Noriko." She said and carefully glided across the grass and stopped behind him, waiting until he turned around. Minato raised a hand and wiped his tears away and sighed again. Minato pulled out a kunai and carefully set it on top of the head stone. He bowed his head and recited a small prayer under his breath. Minato raised his head and opened his eyes to stare at the sky with hurting showing through. It was another few minutes before either of them budged. Minato turned his head to look over at the Hokage's monument and caught a glance of her and turned around. Kushina just calmly walked up and set a white lily next to the kunai. "Makoto told me the Lily was his favorite flower, I'm thinking about growing some now."

"I think he'd like that." Minato said quietly and went back to glaring down at the headstone. "I didn't think he'd go like that."

"He was a shinobi, a little klutzy, but willing to die for his country, and more or less his friends." Kushina said and took a step to her left putting herself closer to him and reminding Minato for the time being, she was still taller than him by an inch. She laid a well manicured hand on his shoulder and patted it. She sighed and broke out laughing and Minato looked at her a little angry. "Calm down, Minato, think about it. Do you really think he'd ever forgive you if you spent all this time mourning him? He'd probably be here pointing a finger in your face going 'come on, you never used to be so gloomy!' Wouldn't he?"

"I suppose so." Minato suddenly had to plant his feet firmly as Kushina jumped on his back with arms wrapped around his neck and legs around his waist. "Thank God you're so light. A little warning next time would be much better, alright?" He said smiling weakly and wrapped his arms under his legs to help support her. "I suppose I'm acting as a rickshaw now?"

"Yep!" she cried happily. "I declare that in honor of Makoto we need to do something fun. Let's go get some Ramen and leave it on your Sensai's tab!"

"Don't you think he'll get upset?" Minato asked, "Jiriaya-Sensai already wastes a lot of his money on women…"

"And he can waste it on his favorite pupil? If it makes you feel better I won't eat the entire shop out of its noodles this time." She suddenly lowered her head on to his shoulder and groaned.

"What's up, you were all sunshine and happiness a minute ago." Minato said.

"You don't want to know."

"Maybe I do, I don't want you to puke on me… again."

"That was an accident and the sushi was contaminated!"

"Sure, Kushina, sure."

"You really want to know?" She felt the hair moved in a nodding motion. "I'm cramping…"

"Eh…" Minato flat out stopped on the side walk and was at a loss of reaction, foot still in the air in mid step. Kushina giggled a bit before groaning again. Minato began going throw a series of facial expressions before finally, and accidentally, blurting out "you're not going to get blood on me, are you?"

"Hm, no, I took care of that part, on to the Ramen." She said regain her perkiness. "If you keep standing here then all you do is keep thinking about my menstrual cycle." She reminded him.

"Right." Minato began running and she nearly would have fell off had she not been nearly choking him. Skidding to a stop Kushina jumped off and landed perfectly causing Minato to trip. He nearly fell but caught a hand out before him and spun on it turning himself upright and facing her. "If you're going to keep using me as a rickshaw there have got to be some rules."

"I agree! I should be yelling at you when you go to slowly." She smiled warmly and giggled causing Minato to smile. He raised a hand and opened the flaps to let her enter first and then follow in behind her sitting down at the seat to see the teen-aged Icharu instead of his father. "Hey, Ich, where's your dad at?"

"He's out right now, he's going to see about getting the building behind us, the abandoned one. He wants to expand this into a full fledged restaurant." Icharu said somewhat dimly.

"I think I like the stand better." Minato said quickly and Icharu quickly agreed with him. "Well, can we get four bowls, I want two shrimp."

"Same here, but with extra mushrooms." Kushina said and then heard a hand come through the flaps, she was about to grab it but Minato beat her to it and they look to see as the hand moved it aside and Tsunade popped her head in. "Tsunade-sama." Both turned fully towards her and Minato pulled his hand away and apologized.

"Looks like I found you first, Minato. Jiraiya's been looking for you, he has a present for you. But if you're getting lunch…" She said about to walk away.

"Wait, I can come. Cancel my Ramen, Icharu." Minato said and was about to get up and run off when he stopped. "Kushina… thinks for making me feel better."

Kushina nodded and Minato disappeared with the Sanin. Kushina sighed. "Give me his ramen too!" She said quickly, "this is all going on Jiraiya's tab!"

"Didn't you get in trouble for this last time?" Icharu asked quietly.

"Nope!" Kushina said taking one of the bowls, "Minato gets in trouble for this!" She quickly began eating without any manners. Icharu looked at her awkwardly and quickly set the next bowl down.

* * *

Minato happily rushed across the town and stopped at the ramen shop and saw it was deserted, only ten minutes later from when he left. He lifted up the flap and found Icharu in the corner cleaning. "Hey, Icharu, do you know where Kushina went?"

"She said something about taking a nap." Icharu mumbled, Minato began to go towards Kushina's apartment but Icharu made a noise. "Wait, she went that way."

"That way?" Minato said following his hand and looked up at the Hokage's building and monument. "So she's up there again? Thanks, Icharu." Minato began running and jumped up on the Hokage's wall past Jiraiya and Tsunade who tried to stop him from running on the building but failed. Minato quickly jumped on the top and ran across the top and jumped up on the blank face wall and jumped on to the top.

"Quick meeting?" Kushina yelled across to open space. She let a leg hang down out of the tree she was laying in so he would spot her, "I hope you don't mind, I ate your ramen, I was hungry."

"It's alright. I have some great news!" Minato casually jogged over and jumped onto the branch right next to her.

"They saw your pathetic attempts at being a rickshaw and actually got you lessons?" Kushina said quickly.

"I'm going to study with the frogs." Kushina shot up and looked at him fully awake. "Jirayia-Sensai said that it would probably be two or three months, isn't that awesome? I'll learn about Senjutsu and get a sage coat. Not to mention I'll be able to summon them. I get to go tonight!"

"And you'll smell like swamp and learn how to spit oil and grow warts." She said snidely. "Who'd want to go train with a bunch of wet, stinky amphibians." She said quietly and dropped out of the tree with the greatest of ease.

"Kushina? Don't tell me your jealous." Minato said and jumped down beside her and tried to put a hand on her shoulder. She quickly slapped it away. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked solemnly.

"Ah…. It's… urrghhh…" She said and began walking away. "I'll see you in three months."

"Something bothering you." He said tauntingly and followed her. "You made me cheer up and now I'm going to do the same."

"Right now, I can't be cheered up." She said flatly and then Minato quickly and forcefully grabbed her shoulder and stopped her with a dire face.

"You make me tell you everything, Kushina." She quickly spun around and kicked him in the chest.

"Bye rickshaw, I'll see you later." Kushina dropped down and Minato grabbed his chest and coughed. Minato quickly retraced his footsteps and passed Jiraiya and Tsunade who tried to say something else and all Minato had time to say was "talk later" before he rushed passed them.

Minato got into the middle of the city and declared following her a lost cause. Sighing he jumped on to the roof top and made his way over to his own apartment. Minato silently walked inside and grabbed his travel bag. He went over to the drawers and just began pulling shirts and pants out and shoving them in. He tossed the bag still open on the bed and grabbed a few blanks scrolls and threw them over to. He stopped and looked into the small little mirror above his dresser and punched the dresser breaking it. He sighed and slapped his forehead. "God dammit."

Minato grabbed some dressings from the rubble and tossed them in the bag too. "Why are girls always so secretive, the period thing I could have done with out but…" His eyes slid over to the calendar and he saw some bright red scribbling that belong to Noriko and Kushina. Noriko had written "Will pay loan back to Nor." And Kushina, circled several times "K's B-Day!" Minato had forgotten all about Kushina's birthday that was on Thursday, which was tomorrow.

"Is that what she's mad about?" Minato said and held the calendar looking at it. "And I still have to pay Noriko back…"

There was a knock at the door followed by "Minato! I'm comin' in!" and Jiraiya leisurely walked in and looked at him with a confused face. "What's got ya' all in knots? I can't have you making me look bad in front of the frogs."

"Sensai… It's just, I can't go right now, Friday maybe." Minato said and looked at him causing Jiraiya to raise an eyebrow. "I have something important to do tomorrow, I can't go until Friday."

"Hm…" Jiraiya saw the calendar and Minato shot his hand down from it. Jiraiya walked over and saw it. "That would happen to be the girl we thought was a boy? She's distracting you from your studies, eh?"

"Not distracting, per say. I promised her I spend her birthday with her. I intend to keep my promise." Minato said firmly.

"Pa's not going to like this, since he's already here. I'll tell him to wait though." Jiraiya said scratching his head. "He leaves you realize you lost your only chance to go train with them."

"I understand."

Jiraiya suddenly began laughing, "don't worry about it! Pa love being here, gets him away from Ma, bet he'd give ya a week off. Alright… Hey, what happened to your dresser?"

"Frus…tra…tion… eh?" Minato said trying to explain his moment of anger.

* * *

"Kush! Let me in!" Noriko yelled through her door. "It's already nine in the morning."

"I… AM…. SLEEPING!" She yelled through exaggerated breaths and turned over in her bed shoving the pillow over her head. She grabbed her blanket and pulled it up tighter to her and began to slowly lull to sleep when she heard the door open. "Nor, I said I was sleeping."

"I know that, tell that to him, he picked your lock." Noriko said following Minato into the room.

Minato jumped on the bed and lay down next to her and lifted the pillow up showing her face. "_Haaaaaaaaaappy birthday to you_."

"You're evil…"

"_Happy birthday to you_."

"Nor, get him off my bed!"

"_Happy birthday dear Kushina, happy_…" Kushina quickly loosened the blanket and shoved it in his mouth.

"I swear sometimes you're more annoying than I am." Kushina said slowly. She sat up, holding the blanket to her, stretched and Minato quickly pulled the blanket out of his mouth. "_Happy birthday to you_."

"Are you quite finished yet? I think if you sing another bar Kushina will throw you out the window." Noriko quickly noted. Minato looked over at Kushina's glare and he scooted over to the edge of the bed and laughed.

"I just wanted to be the first to sing to her." Minato said and turned to her and he and Noriko watched as she yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Go get dressed so we can take you out to breakfast."

"Everyone should celebrate their sixteenth with a birthday breakfast and cake." Noriko said supporting the idea.

"Alright." She said still half out of her head and got off the bed keeping the blanket with her, Minato fell off as the blanket was pulled. "I told you," she stopped to yawn. "To get off my bed." She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Wait… she was," Minato was hit upside the head by Nor.

"I'm saving you the trouble, you're leaving tomorrow after all, you can think about Kushina naked when you get back." Noriko said loudly and there was a crash in the bathroom. Minato sighed gruffly and looked up at Noriko with a slight detesting in his eyes. A minute later Kushina walked out in what most would call a revealing outfit and a giant smile on her face she was trying hard to hide.

Breakfast was uncomfortable to say the least with Minato and Kushina doing everything they could do to avoid each other but found that somewhat impossible seeing as Noriko was right there and had found a new purpose. "Kushina, that's a new outfit isn't it?"

"Yea, I got it last week." She said quickly and stuffed food into her mouth.

"What do you think Minato?" Minato quickly acted as if he wasn't paying attention and Noriko slammed her hand on the table.

Minato pretended to jump back into consciousness, "Oh, I'm sorry did you say something Noriko?"

"I asked you…"

"I'll be right back!" Kushina said quickly and got up to wandered away into the women's bathroom for a temporary escape. Noriko admitted in her head that was clever and went back to Minato who had turned his attention to his coffee. "I know you're paying attention, why don't you just ask her out?"

Minato nearly spit his coffee out had he not stopped himself and swallowed it. "Noriko, you have an over active imagination. Kushina and I are friends."

"Right." Noriko said a little suspicious, "did you know that's the world number one denial sentence?"

"I'm not in denial."

"Are too. Even Makoto would tell you just to ask her out!" Noriko said loudly and Minato began rapidly looking to make sure that Kushina wasn't in sight anywhere.

"Keep quite." Minato said hushly. "Look, even if I did, it wouldn't work out, I'm leaving tomorrow."

"For three months… Oh… I'm sure she'll be cheating on you." Noriko said sarcastically and Minato turned his head towards the window and Noriko turned to see Kushina walk up and sit down. "So Kushina, is your birthday going well?"

"Actually, I'd kind of like to go back to bed, I'm enormously tired, but it's nice. I've never gotten taken out for breakfast before, mainly because I'm never awake for it…" She shrugged and shoved a bit of pancake into her mouth.

Noriko turned to Minato who was still sitting there silently sipping away at his coffee. Noriko sighed and then got a thought in her head she felt she had to share and who hopefully trap one or both of them. In a quick and cheery voice Noriko blurted "You two are really great at avoiding each other."

Without a moments hesitation both cheerfully said "thanks!" and then realized what they were thanking her for.

"I rest my given case. Well, I'm off to see what my mission is, later." Noriko said and stood up and left the two staring at each other which both quickly corrected. Neither of them really had much they wanted to say at the matter and went back to their distractions until it was evident they had nothing more to keep them at the table.

"Well, I think I'm going to head back home." Kushina said still sleepy.

She stood up and was surprise when Minato did too. "Come on, I'll rickshaw you since I'll be gone for so long and you'll actually have to walk."

"Oh, he pitys me…" She said smartly and walked out behind him then jumped on his back taking her normal position on his back. Minato quickly hopped on to the roof tops and began going in her apartments direction. "Why can't you stay on the streets, I just ate…"

"I thought people from whirlpool don't get motion sickness."

"Common misconception." Kushina said quickly.

"The streets are kind of crowded, thought this would be easier." He said and Kushina laughed, "what?"

"You just want to be seen with me so you'll become more popular. Since the little prodigy hasn't turned out any tricks all his limelight has gone away…" she said with a bold fluttering motion of her hand. Minato quickly jolted her and she slapped the hand over her mouth. She calm down, "I will puke on you again."

"I'm not that scared of the puke, it the smell and the stains that bother me." He said and quickly jumped across to her apartment building balconey right in front of her door. He let Kushina down and stretched out his back. "Here you go, where's my tip?"

Minato held out a hand and Kushia grabbed a pen from her pocket and scribbled a note on his hands. He read it quickly 'rickshaw should be smoother rides' and looked at her. Before he could say anything she poke, "I know, I know, I'm being a brat."

"Actually it should be 'rickshaws' not 'rickshaw', but yea, you are… a little bit." Minato said and then waited. "Well."

"What?"

"The day. I said I was going to spend 'the day' with you, ergo…" Minato held out a hand to the blue sky.

"Whatever." She said and walked in her apartment, threw off her shoes, and collapsed onto the bed. "I'm taking a nap." Kushina got adjusted between one of her pillows and the blanket and sighed warmly. She suddenly felt weight on the bed next to her and opened an eye. "What are you doing, Minato?"

"The day…"

"Got that part."

"With you."

"Also got that part. I'm taking a nap though."

"Then so am I." He said and grabbed an extra pillow and shove it under his head. "Of course, the coffee won't help."

"What-ever." Kushina said and closed her eyes and was almost asleep when she heard light snoring and opened her eyes to see that Minato had completely passed out. She smiled and moved closer to him and tossed some of the blanket over the sleeping mass. "That's kind of cute."

"Caught you!" He said blinking awake. "I knew it."

"Knew what, snoring's cute to me?"

"You like me as much as I like you."

"Do not."

"Lair! That's why you wore that outfit today is because of what Noriko said this morning!"

"Well duh! You're a guy and I like attention. Has that ever occurred to you?"

Minato stopped, "has it ever occurred to you that besides me, you have hit every other guy that has approached you?" Kushina stopped and thought for a second which gave Minato time to take his hand and place it on her face. "Kushina…"

"I don't do sappy. Whatever suits your facny I'm going to sleep." She said and rolled over moving his hand off her face and pulling him around her.

"You were lying…"

"Shut up."


	3. Chapter 3

The alarm inside Minato's head went off. He moved his head slightly off of Kushina and looked over at the clock on the wall to see he was right on. He took a giant breath and batted his eyes for a second trying to wake up more. Minato slowly began to withdraw his arm from off of Kushina's waist.

"Ah, ah, ah. You get back here." Kushina said and grabbed Minato's arm and kept him in place around her. She interlocked their fingers and held their hand close to her heart. Minato gave in and cuddled closer to her and squeezed his arm around her. "Give me five minutes and we'll get up together, alright?"

"That's fine. I'm in no hurry." He said softly and kissed her on the neck. He nuzzled his head to her and smiled. They lay there for a minute both lulling in each others body heat. "I'm meeting my team today."

"A bunch of snotty brats…" Kushina said stiffly, "after spending several years in Kohona, I have found your blueprints for teams; I must say I find it stupid."

"Huh, highest grade, lowest grade, and the middle grade, then repeat? We've been doing the arrangements like that for years." Minato said remembering how they were actually put together.

"No I mean character wise. There's a prodigy: sometimes cruel, someone who's goofy with potential, and someone's who's over caring who cares for one of the teammates too much." She said and yawned.

"That's not true." He said and nudged her; Kushina raised a shoulder in response to shrug him off.

"It is, just watch. You'll end up with those to a tee I bet." Minato smiled and kissed her on the shoulder. "Don't do that if you think I'm tired, I know I'm right. I will bet on it."

"Alright then, what are we betting?" Minato said and rolled her over to look at her. "Pick it, anything goes."

"The apartment needs to be painted, cleaned and renovated, also, I want the couch reupholstered and there needs to be some ordinance of dishes in the kitchen, I want all glassware, not whatever happens to wander in here." She said and yawned and turned over under his arm to face him. "And I think we should get a cat."

"Why a cat? I thought they annoyed you."

"Did I say cat, I meant parrot."

"Parrots are messy. What about a mouse?" Minato suggested.

"Alright, so, loser has to do all the work and winner gets to pick out the mouse and dishes." Kushina smiled. "Agreed?"

"Agreed." Minato said and kissed her on the forehead, "now let's get up." He sat up and pulled her up with him. Kushina yawned lightly and stood up to her side of the bed and wandered over into the bathroom calling back, "you're in charge of coffee."

"Right." Minato said and got out of bed to wander into the kitchen that was being set up. Minato began looking through boxes and found the coffee maker and set it on the counter and plugged it in then found the coffee in a random place and began assembling it.

"Hey Kid, I'm coming in." Shouted a voice and Jiraiya walked into the apartment straight over to Minato and ruffled his hair. "You still unpacking, it's been two weeks."

"I've been busy Sensai. It's not like I'm free to come and go as I please anymore, I'm going to be a teacher." Minato said excitedly, he smiled and laughed. "I just hope I don't abandon my students for whatever catches my fancy."

"I can't help it." Jiraiya said and grabbed him with one arm and royally messed with his hair. "I'm an old man, I've got my weaknesses. One day when you're old you'll get your weaknesses too."

"Hopefully not, I want to get married and have a family." Minato said and Jiraiya eased off him.

"That's a nice dream Minato. Too bad it never works out for a lot of us." Jiraiya said distantly before snapping back to himself. "Well, just wanted to say 'see ya'. Tsunade, Orochimaru and I have got some business to take care of out on the war front. Some one said the Sanin are some losers."

"No…. that'd be stupid of them, mainly because Tsunade-sama would kill them if they upset her enough." Minato stated as a fact. "Well, come back safe, Sensai."

"Right, don't forget to get pants on when you meet your students, sonny." Jiraiya said and began to walk out.

"I had planned on it." Minato said looking down in his boxers, he shrugged, he was in his apartment, and he really didn't care at the moment. He heard the door open from the bedroom and Kushina walked out in her dress from the day before. "Coffee will be ready in a minute."

"Good, I'm just having the hardest time waking up." She said and walked up next to him and leaned on the counter. "You know, if we're planning on living together, you're going to have to tell your Sensai that he just can't barge in anymore. It's rude."

"It is what he does, and even if you lock it, he'll just knock the door down." Minato said calmly and pulled mug out of a box and handed it to her. "You'll just have to start going around dressed."

"It's not that, I just think it's a bit rude. Can you just ask him to knock every now and then?" She pleaded sweetly. Slipping past him she grabbed the coffee and poured her a cup. "I'm going to head back over to my apartment, pack up some of my things. Leave the door unlocked, alright?"

"Of course." Minato said and draped a hand across her cheek.

"Act tougher in front of your kids, alright? My man's no push over! Got it?" She said and playfully pushed him in the shoulder and walked out sipping on the warm coffee. Minato leaned over the edge of the wall and watched Kushina's back as she walked out; he smiled a little and poured himself a bit and accidentally spilling it on hand. He quickly shook his hand off and shoved the burned area in his mouth and tried to avoid swearing.

There was a knock at the door and Minato rolled his eyes as he quickly stepped through the living room and looked through the eye hole to see Shikaku Nara outside the door looking right back into the eye piece. "Open up Minato."

Minato opened the door and Shikaku walked in and immediately leaned against a wall. "What's up Shi?" Minato asked closing the door. "I have to go meet my team."

"As do I, but that nagging thing that follows me around…" He grumbled.

"Kirikuo, your girlfriend." Minato corrected him.

"She wants to get married this weekend. Told me today. Been planning it for six months with my mother behind my back." Minato began laughing at him. "Yeah I know. She planned it so I only have to show up and do one other thing, get some guests, you wanna come?"

"Sure, where's it at?"

"No clue. Don't know the time either, she's in charge of that. As I said, I just have to show up, she even got the suit for me. She even got Akimichi to agree to be my best man without my knowledge yesterday." He said and shrugged. "She's an amazing girl. Well, Just wanted to let you know."

"Well, if you find out where it is…"

"Yep." Shikaku said opening the door and walking out slowly. He closed the door behind Nara and laughed. "They're kind of young to be getting married…" 'Just keep telling yourself that…'

* * *

Kushina began packing up her clothes and ran across something hard in the bottom of her underwear draw and saw a gleaming. "So that's where I put you…" She said and pulled out the Whirlpool conch with all its glistening gems and laden pearls on the inside. "You sure are beautiful aren't you? I'll put you up somewhere special, alright?"

Kushina set the conch carefully down on the bed and grabbed yesterday's newspaper to wrap it up tightly and set it in her large travel bag. She went back to shoving the rest of her clothes in until she hit another thing. "I'm like the god damn Easter bunny, aren't I?"

This time she pulled out a small clear box with a dried white rose in it. "From Norikio's funeral…" Kushina lost her smile and grabbed more paper and wrapped the box and set it in carefully. She stopped for a minute and let her emotions over whelm her as she dropped to her knees and began to pray for her. "You we're my best friend for several years, I can only hope you're driving Makoto crazy."

With that she regained a little of her cheerfulness, she stood up carefree and began to put things from on her dresser into the bag. Make up, kunai, a knife, several other sharp and pointed objects and the necklace Minato had given her. She still wore it every now and then even though she was allergic to it, she'd put up with agitated skin to see Minato smile at her. Kushina put the bag carefully around her shoulders and walked, still barefoot over to the door and opened it with one smooth, fluent motion.

Wrangling the keys from the side pocket of the door she locked her apartment up and began over the roof tops and electrical poles to the other side of town to their new apartment. Kushina opened the door to find it empty, the couch sitting awkwardly in the middle of the living room, a hand me down from Tsunade, the two dark wood tables were too. It was the bright green of the couch that bugged her though. "I'm thinking you should be either white or black, what do you think…. That's right, you're a couch."

Kushina set the bag down softly on the cushions and walked over to the shelves that came with the apartment. She placed both palms on them and pressed down until she actually lifted herself up. "Talk about built to last."

Kushina began shuffling through her bag and pulled out both wads of newspapers and set the conch and the boxed lily on the shelf. She took a deep breath, "I suppose it's time to go pick out the dishes and the mouse."

* * *

"So, I'll be leading you. My name's Minato Namikaze, I'm a Jounin, former ANBU. I'm also known as Konoha's yellow flash. About myself…." Minato said in front of the three students sitting in front of him. Only two looked like they really cared. "I like to invent new techniques, like this."

Minato held out his hand and form Rasengan. Now all three eyes focused on him. "It doesn't look like much but…" Minato turned in the training field to forced the Rasengan to the straw practice dummy. The dummy flew off the pole and landed several dozen meters away. "Cool, huh?"

"Oy! Sensai, are you going to be teaching us that!" The young Uchiha got up and stood on the rock as Minato turned to watch him, "man think how cool I'd be if I could do that! I could…"

Obito slipped and Minato caught him and laughed. "Maybe when you're older, alright. Well, why don't you tell us about yourself before you slip again." Minato helped him back onto the rock.

"Alright! I'm Obitio Uchiha, I'm going to be Hokage one day! I'm going to be the best ninja that ever existed!" Obito cried and fell off backwards from the rock. A single hand stuck up in the air with the pointer finger up. "I'm Konoha's number one ninja!"

Minato swiveled his head to the somewhat dazed little girl who had gotten up. She moved behind the rocks they were sitting on to help pull Obito up. "You need be more careful, please. Serious head injuries can happen when you fall backwards."

Obito laughed quickly and sat down quietly on the rock. Minato turned to her, "well, why don't you go?"

"Alright. My name's Rin, I've been studying medical techniques for several years. I like nature." She said sweetly. "That's basically it, I like to read, things along that path."

"Alright and you look like Fang's son." Minato said turning to Kakashi.

The boy sighed. "I am, I'm Kakashi." He stopped it there and didn't say anything else.

"Is that it?" Kakashi nodded quickly. Minato sighed. 'Damn, how'd she do that…'

* * *

Minato walked into the apartment quietly and snuck into the kitchen without a sound and stood behind Kushina who was holding up paint samples to the wall. Minato slowly reached a hand out. "I can smell you, Minato."

"I figured, mind as well try." He walked over normally and placed his arms around her waist and watched as she kept flipping through colors. He sighed, "So, you did it too a tee. They were exactly like as you said."

"Told you. The mouse is in our bedroom already, I got a white one, name him Shui. He's very playful, I got him one of those balls they roll around in too." She said and dropped several colors to hold up the final three. "Why is picking out paint so hard?"

"Just pick one, it doesn't matter to me." He said and laid his head on her shoulders. He looked over at the counter and saw the new boxes of dishes. "Why don't you make the color complement the dishes?"

Kushina turned around in his arms. "Sometimes I really do wish I had your brain." Kushina set her head next to him and kissed him. "So, is your team really that cookie cutter?"

"As I said, exactly as you said." Kushina began laughing. Minato grabbed her and gave her a quick jolt. "It's not that funny, they're going to be really hard to work with." Kushina only laughed harder at his problem. "Why don't you stop laughing and get back to picking out paint?"

"Alright hot stuff, go introduce yourself to Shui then, he like people." She said and he let go to walk away and Kushina began laughing again but more vigorously. Minato turned around and pointed a finger at her and but started laughing himself. "Even you think it's funny."

"Shut up, Kush." He said and walked out of the room and down the hall to their room and opened the door to find a little cage with a small white mouse in it. Minato dipped a hand in, right next to Shui. Happily the mouse crawled into his palm and rushed up his arm and stopped on his shoulder and began sniffing him. "Hey there, Shui. Well you're not very shy are you?"

The mouse cocked his head and stared at the tall blonde man. Minato looked back at it, he really didn't know what to do with a mouse beside feed it and clean its bedding. Kushina strolled in and sat next to him. "Having a staring contest?"

"It's like he's enthralled with me, or something of that nature." Minato said and carefully and swiftly moved the mouse back into its cage where it continued to stare. "Do mice always do that?"

"Don't know." She said and held out a white plate with green vines on it along with two different shades of green. I was thinking we could do an accent wall with this color and the rest with this one."

"Whatever you want, alright, I don't really care." Minato said. "it's a wall color, I'm happy if you're happy with it, alright?" Minto peck her quickly and sniffed the air quickly. "Do you smell something rotten?"

"Ugh… he peed on your shoulder." Kushina pointed out the small spot on Minato's standard issue vest. Minato sighed and began pulling all his kunai and other weapons out of the various pockets to set them in a pile on the floor. "Too bad we don't have the washer and dryer hooked up."

"Alright, I'm going." Minato said and got up taking the vest off and tossing it to the newly carpeted floor. As soon as Minato was gone Kushina leaned in to the cage, "Don't pee on him, its rude Shui. That was a very bad thing to do."

"Kush! Are you scolding the mouse?" Minato called from the other room. The ninja looked around the washer before climbing on to it to see behind it.

"No, just advising, dear." Kushina walked in and stared at him for a few minutes while Minato got to work connecting random tubes and such. "You know, most people would just pull it out and hook everything up, but no, Minato has to climb on top of the washer and struggle to put it together without seeing. You're unique I'll give you that."

"Hem, thanks." Minato said and climbed down off it and shoved it back against the wall. He flipped the lid up and pressed a button. The water started pouring in. "Ta-da!"

"Now if you could only flash the dirty laundry in there." She and laughed as she went about the room collecting an arm full of dirty clothes and shoving it in the washer. She slammed the lid shut and turned around sticking her tongue out at him. "Hey Minato, you know what people do with washers?"

Minato laughed and slapped his hand to his face and rubbed his skin with the tips of his fingers, "we are not having sex on the washer."

"Why not?" She said throwing her arms down. She looked at him with an angry glare. "We know it can support the weight and if we spill over the dryer's there to catch us." Kushina made a sweet pouting face.

"Don't make that face." Kushina slowly tilted her head and tired to look more pathetic. "Some time you drive me crazy."

"In the good way?" She asked softly.

"Yes, in the good way." Kushina smiled as he shoved her back against the machine and kissed her as hard as he could.


	4. Chapter 4

Minato was shoved out of the way by several nurses and doctors as the rushed over as Kushina screamed in the bed already in the position to give birth to their child. Minato watched half worried and half amused as she hit away the doctor swearing and cussing at them. For all unknown purposes, and in addition that Kushina didn't know what she was doing, she was telling the doctors they were doing it wrong. Minato backed up against the wall; he crossed his arms nervously and tried not to laugh as she kicked a doctor in the face causing him to fall to the floor.

It was then that a nurse quickly grabbed a towel and Minato looked over excitedly. Instead he was grabbed by one of the nurse who kept apologizing profusely as she shoved him out the door and sat him down in a chair saying something about a 'complication'. The nurse quickly rushed down the hall and pulled the Sanin Tsunade from repairing a broken arm to the room. As the two walked by Minato, his and Tsunade's eyes met while the nurse said 'bleeding out.' Tsunade's gaze quickly left his as she entered the room and the door was closed behind her.

Minato's eyes slowly traced along the white wash walls to any particular spot and focused it. Raising a hand he covered his mouth and tried not to think of the worse, but how could he? With reports of Kyuubi on the border and now the bleeding out of his lover while his child hasn't been born yet.

As the screams spilled out into the hallway Minato stood up. 'I'm a Hokage, I just burst into the room.' 'What if I mess them up?' 'Kushina might be injured, I have to do something!' Minato took a deep breath and sat back down, his elbows resting on his knees and his head resting on his elbows. A feeling of completely helplessness swarmed over him and for the first time in his life, Minato felt like everything was out of his hands.

The screaming died down as the door opened; Minato felt a hand on his head and he looked up to see Tsunade standing their above him. "I'll send the doctors out; you should go in and see her and your son."

Minato nodded and watched as the Sanin herded all the doctors out then walked out of the room herself. "Minato, I don't think she has long. She knows. I'm sorry."

Minato stood up and patted Tsunade on the shoulder as he moved by opening the door to walk in and see Kushina holding a small baby with bloody blonde hair. Kushina looked terrible, she looked pale and exhausted but continued to act as she normally would, just weaker. "Hun, hand me the wet towel. Can't have little Naruto all covered in blood. He didn't scream at all, he did burp though, it was funny."

"Kushina…"

"Don't be all depressed, you have a beautiful healthy son. Focus on him now, he looks just like his dad. He even makes that constipated face like you do." Kushina said running a hand along his cheek. The young babe wriggled again and stuck out his tongue quickly. Minato picked the warm wet clothe from the bowl and handed it to her as she wiped his face off first and then cleaned the rest of his body and last the small poof of hair at the top of his head. "That's a clean baby, isn't he?"

Kushina held him up with both hands. "Go ahead, Minato, hold your son."

Nervously Minato's steady hands slipped in above hers and he lifted up the small baby and set him against on arm and used the other to make sure he didn't fall. Minato looked back and sat down in a small chair the was opposite Kushina's bed. She watched carefully and took in the moment.

"Hey there, Naruto. I'm your dad. I'm sorry you can't look like your mother, your mother was the most beautiful creature in several countries while I make a constipated face I'm told." Kushina snorted and began laughing quietly. "You're the third thing I've ever done right in my life. The first was deciding to take a nap next to your mother. The second was me becoming Hokage, but, I think you're the best, and Mom won't be angry at me for saying that, will she?"

Minato looked up and saw the Kushina was lying their crying and smiling as the blood had seeped quickly through the sheets and spread. She wiped a small stream from her cheek and looked up at him.

Minato stood up and walked over with the baby to sit on the edge of the bed. Minato carefully shifted his arms and reached out a hand to glide along Kushina's face. "Are you in any pain?"

She shook her head. Minato looked away and turned to Naruto only to bite his lip. "Hey there, I told you before, my man's no push over…" Minato turned back and saw her smile. "It'll be alright. There can be no one better in the entire village to raise a child then you, Minato."

Kushina clasped his hand tightly and he held it fiercely. Minato watched his baby carefully. "Make sure you always buy more diapers then you need." Minato laughed and then felt the hand stop squeezing. He turned back and she was lying there looking straight foreword.

"Kush…." Minato stroked her face again. "Kush…." He choked on his own air as the tears began to fall from his face. Minato was careful as he leaned over and kissed her carefully on the forehead. He stood slowly and pulled the sheet over her head.

Minato wobbled over the chair and clutched his son, the last remnants of Kushina to his chest. He tired to hold it in but he couldn't do it any more and began completely bawling and screaming causing Naruto to scream with him. Tsunade quickly broke through the door to see Minato in the chair cradling the baby. Tsunade took him from the Hokage's hands and Jiraiya walked in and looked down at what had become of his student.

"Minato…" Jiraiya walked over and knelt down taking his student into his arms. Tsunade, babe in hands walked over to the covered body and pierced her lips together as she let her eyes cloud up. She turned to look over at Minato who kept crying uncontrollably.

"Tsunade-sama?" Said the young pupil Shizune walking into the room. Tsunade held out a hand and Shizune took it without hesitation. Tsunade knew exactly what Minato was going through.

"Jiraiya, there's nothing you can do. Nothing will ever make it better for him." She said from experience and walked out of the room. "I'll be in the nursery."

* * *

For the next week Minato spent each night sleeping on the floor next to Naruto's crib, if he could even sleep at all. Most of the time he spent sitting, knees bent, arms wrapped around them, the Hokage staring at the crib with two streams of tears rolling down each side. He didn't know if he could survive like this much longer, of course Tsunade was over everyday with Shizune; the village wives made it their sole purpose to see to his child. Even with the aid he felt helpless. How could he be so sad and happy at the same time?

He was fine with everything else, it was just the nights when Naruto was sleeping, and Minato didn't have anyone to sleep next too. It was then there was a loud sound, the sound of the door bursting open. A ninja ran in, "lord Hokage, Kyuubi's on his way."

"Assemble all the ninjas in the village to confront him, separate them into waves to minimize damage. I'll be there as soon as possible." Minato said and rushed to his room to dress. He was already in his outfit so he just tossed on the coat and made sure his head band was tight. He walked back into the room to scoop up his son.

"I… You're my son, your strong… Your also a very heavy sleeper." He said and began to walk out and stopped at the mantle and touched the conch shell to lift it up where Kushina had hid his seal ingredients. He smashed it down and grabbed the needed compoents adn made his way out of the apartment.

* * *

"Jiraiya, take him." Minato said handing off his only son. "Here are the seal ingredients, set it up."

"Who are you sealing him into?" Jiraiya asked quickly understanding what his pupil was doing. Minato took a quick look back with a stern face. "Not the boy, Minato, he's a baby."

"He's my son; I know he'll be strong." Minato said and jumped off the cliff to summon the boss frog Gamabutna beneath him. As they rose Minato bent over and patted the frog. "I'm afraid this will be our last meeting my friend."

"You retiring, Minato?" The frog asked quickly.

"Something like that, yea." He said and looked over to the west where the Kyuubi was approaching from. "Let's go get that Kyuubi, alright? We need to lure him over to this cliff."

"Hold on then. I'll have him over here faster then you can run!" The frog boasted and took a large jump out avoiding the shinobi below. He kicked the giant fox. "Boy, you're a real ugly son of a bitch aren't you?"

The Kyuubi didn't respond but instead attacked directly. Gamabunta jumped back. "Whoa, no come backs?" He quickly pulled his sword and stopped the fangs.

"Its looks like he's being controlled. We have a little farther to get him." Minato said looking back. "A leap or two."

"Burning oil!" The boss cried and spat oil at the fox while Minato spat fire that caught the oil. The Kyuubi growled and flung when his eyes suddenly changed drastically.

"You pathetic creatures!" The Kyuubi said and hit Gamabunta back against he wall; Minato flashed up to the top of the cliff with Jiraiya. Gamabunta said some derogatory terms and the Kyuubi came charging.

"Is it all set Jiraiya?" Minato asked walking in. Jiraiya was sitting on the floor and had set Naruto on a pile of hay with some candles around him. Jiraiya nodded and Minato walked behind the babe and looked out the entrance to the small cave. Minato bit his thumb and did the seal quickly and saw the death god before him.

"Kyuubi is the target." The death god floated behind Minato and stuck his hands through the Hokage's chest. Minato shivered as the icy arms stretched quickly and grasped the tailed beast. Changing into a stream of chakra the fox was being lead back directly to Minato, and right over Naruto where Jiraiya had drawn the seal.

As the stream approached Minato began to quickly seal the chakra into Naruto. Minato's chakra almost diminished, he collapsed on to one knee as the last wisp floated inside Naruto. Minato turned his head as the pale blue hands of the death god slowly retreated into his chest. "Keep Naruto safe, Sen…"

* * *

**FIN**

**Thanks for Reading!  
**


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